Marc Drumm

Presentations

The West Chester University eTextbook Initiative: Tackling a Day One Inequity in the Classroom

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, textbook costs increased 88% between 2006 and 2016. Now, with such a large percentage of students skipping the purchase of a textbook because of cost (65% in 2020 according to the United States Public Interest Research Group), some students are walking into the classroom on day one already at a disadvantage compared to those who can afford the course’s required educational materials. This presentation explores how West Chester University’s Office of Digital Learning & Innovation is working to combat the high cost of textbooks by teaching cohorts of faculty how to create their own electronic textbooks to provide to their students for free. The results so far: over 2,000 students have saved more than $90,000 in less than three years.

Presented:

  • November 3, 2021: PASSHE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Summit, Online.

Implementing a University-Wide eTextbook Initiative

Presented with Rui Li

We will discuss a university-wide initiative intending to enhance the undergraduate and graduate teaching and learning experience through the use of faculty-developed electronic textbooks. By replacing traditional, third-party textbooks, these e-textbooks save students financial resources and provide additional types of content, interactivity, learning experiences, and assessments.

Presented:

  • October 15, 2019: EDUCAUSE, Chicago, IL.

A Closer Look at How Teachers Tame Twitter


In this session, we’ll look at how higher education faculty and graduate students have embraced Twitter to engage their students both in and out of the classroom, collect research data, and communicate and collaborate with others who have similar interests. Specific examples used in a variety of subjects will be presented, including Foreign Language, History, Literature, Mathematics, Medicine, and Urban Studies. Middle and High School teachers may also find these methods beneficial.

Presented:

  • July 25, 2018: D2L Fusion, Houston, TX.
  • March 4, 2017 (invited): University of Delaware Educational Technology Conference, Newark, DE.



The WCU eTextbook Initiative: Year One in Review

Panel Discussion with Constance Case, Shannon Mrkich, Dottie Ives Dewey, and Chris Penny


At RECAP in 2017, I announced a new university initiative that aims to replace and/or supplement expensive commercial course textbooks with free or low-cost electronic textbooks produced by WCU faculty. Seven faculty were selected to participate and have begun constructing an eTextbook that they plan to use in at least one of their courses. In this panel discussion, some of these faculty will talk about why they decided to join the initiative and examine their experiences in building their first eTextbook.

Presented:

  • May 17, 2018: West Chester University RECAP, West Chester, PA.



Shall We Play A Game?

Presented with Amberlynn Grove


In January 2018, the Kahoot! company announced that they have over 70 million monthly active users. It’s popularity is one of the reasons why it seems like there’s been a presentation about it at every educational technology conference for the past couple of years. Now, higher education faculty are asking about other formative assessment games they could use to engage their students. In this interactive session, learn about and experience other digital games to use within the classroom. Participants will leave with a list of tools and suggestions on how to implement them in a variety of disciplines.

Presented:

  • March 8, 2018: University of the Sciences eLearning 3.0 Conference, Philadelphia, PA



Don’t Judge an eBook By its Print Edition


While many students and faculty have discovered the advantages and conveniences of using eBooks in their courses, many haven’t moved past the perception of the eBook as just an electronic version of the printed textbook. In this session, we’ll examine how faculty are using Apple’s Multi-Touch format to create interactive eBooks with photo galleries, 3D images, animations, quizzes, and more to either complement or replace their course textbook. We’ll also look at how faculty are assessing their students by having them create their own Multi-Touch books.

Presented:

  • May 18, 2017: West Chester University RECAP, West Chester, PA.



Ten Ways Teachers Tame Twitter

Presented with Stephanie Taitano


Twitter can be seen as a confusing, overwhelming, fast-paced and sometimes senseless sphere of hash-tagged, retweeted, “favorited,” and “celebritied” nonsense that may or may not be contributing to the decline of civilization –or at least the decline of traditional literacy and focus. However, Twitter might also be seen as a powerful instructional tool. In this presentation we will propose ten specific, pedagogically sound strategies for implementing Twitter as an instructional tool which, especially when combined with other social media and web tools, can have a profound influence on learning.

Presented:

  • June 23, 2015: EdMedia 2015, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
  • May 14, 2015: West Chester University RECAP, West Chester, PA.
  • March 25, 2015: Drexel University e-Learning Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
  • March 24, 2015: Quality Matters Regional Conference on Quality Assurance in Education 2015, Philadelphia, PA.
  • March 14, 2015 (invited): University of Delaware Educational Technology Conference, Newark, DE.


Comments (1)

  1. Sarah Farrell Reply

    Hi Marc! Can you email me. I’d like to discuss Nursing faculty experiences with iBooks Author. Thanks!! Sarah